Medieval Studies Resources
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Foundational Works in Medieval Studies
Pierre Duhem
Le système du monde: Histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic. 10 vols. Paris: A. Hermann, 1913–1959.
Maurice de Wulf
Scholasticism Old and New: An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy; Medieval and Modern. Translated by P. Coffey. Dublin: M. H. Gill, 1907; 1910. Reprinted with minor corrections as An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy: Medieval and Modern. New York: Dover Publications, 1956. Dover edition reprinted in Heusenstamm: Editiones Scholasticae, 2012.
Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1922; repr. New York: Dover Publications, 1940.
Mediaeval Philosophy Illustrated from the System of Thomas Aquinas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1922.
History of Mediaeval Philosophy. Translated by Ernest Messenger. 2 vols. New York: Longman Green, 1925–1926. Reprinted New York: Dover Publications, 1952 [vol. 1; vol. 2].
Odon Lottin
Psychologie et morale aux XIIe et XIIIe siecles, 6 vols. (Louvain: Abbaye du Mont Cesar, 1942–1960).
Etienne Gilson
Principal Works on Medieval PhilosophyThe Spirit of Mediæval Philosophy (Gifford Lectures 1931-1932). Translated by A.H.C. Downes. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940.
History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages. New York: Random House, 1955. Reprinted Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2019.
The Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine. Translated by L.E.M. Lynch. Providence, RI: Cluny, 2020.
The Mystical Theology of St. Bernard. Translated by A.H.C. Downes. Cistercian Studies 120. Trappist, KY: Cistercian Publications, 1990.
The Philosophy of St. Bonaventure. Translated by Dom Illtyd Trethowan. Providence, RI: Cluny: 2020.
Thomism: The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Laurence Shook and Armand Maurer. 6th ed. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2002.
John Duns Scotus: Introduction to His Fundamental Positions. Translated by James Colbert. Illuminating Modernity. London: T&T Clark, 2019.
Dante and Philosophy. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1949.
Other Works by Gilson that May be of InterestElements of Christian Philosophy. Garden City: Doubleday, 1959.
Christian Philosophy: An Introduction. Translated by Armand Maurer. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1993.
Being and Some Philosophers. 2nd ed. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1952.
Henri de Lubac
De Lubac, Henri. Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture. 3 vols. Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.
vol. 1. Translated by Mark Sebanc.
vol. 2. Translated by Ed Macierowski.
vol. 3. Translated by Ed Macierowski.
Lambert Marie de Rijk
De Rijk, Lambert Marie. Logica modernorum. 2 vols. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1967.
De Rijk, L. M. “On Ancient and Mediaeval Semantics and Metaphysics [1].” Vivarium 15, no. 2 (1977): 81–110.
De Rijk, L. M. “On Ancient and Mediaeval Semantics and Metaphysics (2).” Vivarium 16, no. 2 (1978): 81–107.
De Rijk, L. M. “On Ancient and Mediaeval Semantics and Metaphysics (3).” Vivarium 18, no. 1 (1980): 1–62.
De Rijk, L. M. “On Ancient and Mediaeval Semantics and Metaphysics (4).” Vivarium 19, no. 1 (1981).
De Rijk, L. M. “On Ancient and Mediaeval Semantics and MetaPhysics (5).” Vivarium 19, no. 2 (1981): 81–125.
De Rijk, L. M. “On Ancient and Mediaeval Semantics and Metaphysics (6).” Vivarium 20, no. 2 (1982): 97–127.
De Rijk, L. M. La philosophie au moyen âge. Leiden: Brill, 1985.
De Rijk, L. M. “Semantics and Metaphysics in Gilbert of Poitiers: Twelfth-Century Platonism (1).” Vivarium 26, no. 2 (1988): 73–112.
De Rijk, L. M. “Semantics and Metaphysics in Gilbert of Poitiers: Twelfth-Century Platonism (2).” Vivarium 27, no. 1 (1989): 1–35.
De Rijk, L. M. Through Language to Reality: Studies in Medieval Semantics and Metaphysics. Edited by E. P. Bos. Northampton: Variorium Reprints, 1989.
De Rijk, L. M. Aristotle: Semantics and Ontology. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
Textbooks, Companions, Anthologies, Reference Works, Histories
Contextualizing Medieval Thought
Medieval History
GeneralDawson, Christopher. Medieval Essays. With introduction by John Boyle. The Works of Christopher Dawson. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2002.Oakley, Francis. The Medieval Experience: Foundations of Western Cultural Singularity. New York: Scribner, 1974.Patristic periodChadwick, Henry. The Early Church. New York: Penguin, 1993.
Brown, Peter. Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350–550 AD. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. [While strictly speaking, this book is about the economy and early Christian beliefs about wealth, it gives crucial insight into the origins of medieval Christendom.]
Early Middle AgesBrown, Peter. The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200–1000. Tenth Anniversary Revised Edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. [This is a magisterial overview of early medieval Western history, which is framed as—and lives up to its promises as—overturning the conventional narratives of Edward Gibbon and Christopher Dawson. A very detailed and surprising book throughout.]
Wickham, Chris. The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000. New York: Penguin, 2010.
High Middle AgesJordan, William Chester. Europe in the High Middle Ages. New York: Penguin, 2004.Late Middle Ages–Early ModernityTuchman, Barbara. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century. New York: Random House, 1987. [Technically a biography of a single man, this book surveys in dramatic prose the full scope of the fourteenth century, focusing on France. The book errs on the side of the sensational.]
Eire, Carlos. Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. [This is written as an introductory textbook, but is still quite good for giving a comprehensive and thoughtful overview of the reformation (the reformations). It makes a point of not overlooking the Catholic reformations, which began before the Protestant reformation and continued after.]
MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation: A History. New York: Penguin, 2003. [This is the best history of the long Reformation (beginning in the late middle ages) in terms of its scope and detail. The authors perspective is decidedly on the side of non-establishment Christian sects, such as the anabaptists.]
Marriage, Sex, and Family
Brundage, James. Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Ozment, Steven. Ancestors: The Loving Family in Old Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Payer, Pierre. Sex and the Penitentials: The Development of a Sexual Code 550-1150. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.
Medieval Political Culture
Burns, J. H, ed. The Cambridge History of Medieval Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Jones, Andrew Willard. Before Church and State: A Study of Social Order in the Sacramental Kingdom of St. Louis IX. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2017.
Jones, Andrew Willard. The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2021.
Kantorowicz, Ernest. The King's Two Bodies: A Study of Medieval Political Theology. With new preface by William Chester Jordan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997 [1957].
Oakley, Francis. The Emergence of Western Political Thought in the Latin Middle Ages. 3 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010–2015.
Vol. 1: Empty Bottles of Gentilism; Kingship and the Divine in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (to 1050) (2010).
Vol. 2: The Mortgage of the Past; Reshaping the Ancient Political Inheritance (1050-1300) (2012).
Vol. 3: The Watershed of Modern Politics; Law, Virtue, Kingship, and Consent (1300–1650) (2015).
Rahner, Hugo. Church and State in Early Christianity. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.
Voegelin, Eric. History of Political Ideas. Vol. 1, Hellenism, Rome, and Early Christianity. Vol. 2, The Middle Ages to Aquinas. Vol. 3, The Later Middle Ages. Vol. 4, Renaissance and Reformation. The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin 19–22. Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri Press, 1997–1998.
Canon and Civil Law
Hartmann, Wilfred, and Kenneth Pennington, eds. The History of Byzantine and Eastern Canon Law to 1500. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2012.
Hartmann, Wilfred, and Kenneth Pennington, eds. The History of Courts and Procedure in Medieval Canon Law. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016.
Hartmann, Wilfred, and Kenneth Pennington, eds. The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140-1234; from Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008.
Rolker, Christof. Canon Law in the Age of Reforms (c. 1000 to c. 1150). With chapter on Papal Councils, 1049–1179 by Robert Somerville. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2023.
Winroth, Anders, and John Wei, eds. The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Monasticism
Beach, Alison, and Isabelle Cochelin, eds. The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Popular Religion
High Middle Ages
Thompson, Augustine, OP. Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125–1325. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005.
Late Middle Ages–Early Modernity
Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580. 3rd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022.
Duffy, Eamon. Reformation Divided: Catholics, Protestants and the Conversion of England. London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2017.
Medieval Philosophy Primary Source Anthologies
Bosley, Richard, and Martin Tweedale, eds. Basic Issues in Medieval Philosophy: Selected Readings Presenting Interactive Discourse among the Major Figures. Ontario: Broadview, 1997.
The Cambridge Translations of Medieval Philosophical Texts. Vol. 1, Logic and the Philosophy of Language. Edited by Norman Kretzmann and Eleonore Stump. Vol. 2, Ethics and Political Philosophy. Edited by Arthur Stephen McGrade, John Kilcullen, and Matthew Kempshall. Vol. 3, Mind and Knowledge. Edited by Robert Pasnau. Vol. 5, Philosophical Theology. Edited by Thomas Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988–2004.
Folz, Bruce, ed. Medieval Philosophy: A Multicultural Reader. London: Bloomsbury, 2019.
Hyman, Arthur, James Walsh, and Thomas Williams, eds. Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 2010.
Klima, Gyula, ed. Medieval Philosophy: Essential Readings and Commentary. Blackwell, 2007.
Shapiro, Herman, ed. Medieval Philosophy: Selected Readings from Augustine to Buridan. New York: Modern Library, 1964.
History of Medieval Philosophy in General
Textbooks / Overviews / Basic Introductions
Arlig, Andrew. Medieval Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2024.
Copleston, Frederick, SJ. History of Medieval Philosophy. London: Methuen, 1972.
Copleston, Frederick, SJ. A History of Philosophy. 9 vols. New York: Image Books, 1993.
Vol. 1: Greece and Rome From the Pre-Socratics to Plotinus.
Vol. 2: Medieval Philosophy From Augustine to Duns Scotus.
Vol. 3: Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Ockham, Francis Bacon, and the Beginning of the Modern World.
Cross, Richard. The Medieval Christian Philosophers: An Introduction. London: I.B.Tauris, 2014.
De Libera, Alain. La philosophie médiévale. 5th ed. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2001.
De Rijk, Lambert Marie. La philosophie au moyen âge. Leiden: Brill, 1985.
Gilson, Etienne. History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages. New York: Random House, 1955. Reprinted Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2019.
Luscombe, David. Medieval Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Marenbon, John. Early Medieval Philosophy (480–1150): An Introduction. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1988.
Marenbon, John. Later Medieval Philosophy (1150–1350): An Introduction. London: Routledge, 1991.
Marenbon, John. Medieval Philosophy: An Historical and Philosophical Introduction. Routledge History of Philosophy. London: Routledge, 2009.
Maurer, Armand. Medieval Philosophy: An Introduction. 2nd ed. The Etienne Gilson Series 4. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1982.
McInerny, Ralph. A History of Western Philosophy. Vol. 1, Beginnings to Plotinus. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1963.
McInerny, Ralph. A History of Western Philosophy. Vol. 2, Philosophy from Augustine to Ockham. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1970.
Reference Works
Crosby, Everett, C. Julian Bishko, Robert Kellogg. Medieval Stuides: A Bibliographical Guide. New York: Garland Publishing, 1983.
Lagerlund, Henrik, ed. Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy: Philosophy between 500 and 1500. 2nd ed. Dordrecht: Netherlands, 2024.
Companions
Cross, Richard, and J. T. Paasch, eds. The Routledge Companion to Medieval Philosophy. Routledge Philosophy Companions. London: Routledge, 2021.
Gracia, Jorge, and Timothy Noone, eds. A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
Kretzmann, Norman, Anthony Kenny, Jan Pinborg, and Eleonore Stump, eds. The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy: From the Rediscover of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism 1100-1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Lagerlund, Henrik, ed. Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy: Philosophy between 500 and 1500. 2nd ed. Dordrecht: Netherlands, 2024.
Marenbon, John, ed. Medieval Philosophy. Vol. 3 of 10 of Routledge History of Philosophy. London: Routledge, 1998.
McGrade, A. S., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Pasnau, Robert, and Christina Van Dyke, eds. The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Latin Philosophy in the Early Middle Ages through the Twelfth Century
Early Middle Ages
Armstrong, Arthur Hilary, ed. The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Marenbon, John. From the School of Alcuin to the School of Auxerre: Logic, Theology and Philosophy in the Early Middle Ages. London: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Twelfth Century
Biard, Joël, ed. Langage, sciences, philosophie au XIIe siècle. Paris: Vrin, 1999.
Dronke, Peter, ed. A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Jolivet, Jean, and Alain De Libera, eds. Gilbert de Poitiers et ses Contemporains: Aux origines de la logica modernorum; actes du septième symposium européen d’histoire de la logique et de la sémantique médiévales, centre d’études supérieures de civilisation médiévale de Poitiers, 17–22 Juin 1985. History of Philosophy 5. Naples: Bibliopolis, 1987.
Arabic, Muslim, and Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages
Textbooks
Husik, Isaac. A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy. New York: MacMillan, 1916; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1940.
López-Farjeat, Luis Xavier. Classical Islamic Philosophy: A Thematic Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2022.
Reference works
Daiber, Hans. Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Daiber, Hans. Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy: Supplement. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Companions / Anthologies
Adamson, Peter, and Richard Taylor, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Aertsen, Jan, and Gerhard Endress, eds. Averroes and the Aristotelian Tradition: Sources, Constitution and Reception of the Philosophy of Ibn Rushd (1126–1198): Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium Averroicum (Cologne, 1996). Islamic Philosophy Theology and Science: Texts and Studies 31. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Fidora, Alexander, and Polloni, eds. Appropriation, Interpretation and Criticism: Philosophical and Theological Exchanges Between the Arabic, Hebrew and Latin Intellectual Traditions. Textes et etudes du moyen âge 88. Barcelona: Brepols, 2017.
Frank, Daniel, and Oliver Leaman, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Hasse, Dag Nikolaus, and Amos Bertolacci, eds. The Arabic, Hebrew and Latin Reception of Avicenna’s Metaphysics. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2012.
Inglis, John, ed. Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition: In Islam, Judaism and Christianity. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.
Neusner, Jacob, and Alan Avery-Peck, eds. The Blackwell Companion to Judaism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
Medieval Logic, Semantics, and Philosophy of Language
Websites
Reference Works
Bursill-Hall, G. L., ed. Census of Medieval Latin Grammatical Manuscripts. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1981.
Stammerjohann, Harro. Lexicon Grammaticorum: A Bio-Bibliographical Companion to the History of Linguistics. 2nd ed. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2009.
Textbooks / General Histories
Ashworth, E.J. Language and Logic in the Post-Medieval Period. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing, 1974.
Bocheński, I.M. A History of Formal Logic. Translated by Ivo Thomas. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1961.
Boehner, Philotheus. Medieval Logic: An Outline of Its Development from 1250 to c. 1400. Toronto: The University of Chicago Press, 1959. Reprinted Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2007.
Broadie, Alexander. Introduction to Medieval Logic. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Kneale, William, and Martha Kneale. The Development of Logic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962.
Spade, Paul Vincent. Thoughts, Words and Things: An Introduction to Late Mediaeval Logic and Semantic Theory. Version 1.2. 2007.
Stump, Eleonore. Dialectic and Its Place in the Development of Medieval Logic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989.
Parsons, Terence. Articulating Medieval Logic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Companions and Anthologies
Bolyard, Charles, and Rondo Keele, eds. Later Medieval Metaphysics: Ontology, Language, and Logic. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013.
Bos, E.P., ed. Mediaeval Semantics and Metaphysics : Studies Dedicated to L.M. de Rijk, Ph. D., Professor of Ancient and Mediaeval Philosophy at the University of Leiden on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday. Nijmegen: Ingenium, 1985.
Bos, E.P., ed. Medieval Supposition Theory Revisited. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
Braakhuis, Henricus Antonius Giovanni, and Corneille Henri Kneepkens, eds. Aristotle’s Peri Hermeneias in the Latin Middle Ages: Essays on the Commentary Tradition. Artistarium. Supplementa. Groningen: Ingenium Publishers, 2003.
Braakhuis, H.A.G., C.H. Kneepkens, and L.M. De Rijk, eds. English Logic and Semantics: From the End of the Twelfth Century to the Time of Ockham and Burleigh, Acts of the 4th European Symposium on Mediaeval Logic and Semantics, Leiden-Nijmegen, 23–27 April 1979. Nijmegen: Ingenium, 1981.
Cesalli, Laurent, Frédéric Goubier, and Alain de Libera, eds. Formal Approaches and Natural Language in Medieval Logic: Proceedings of the XIXth European Symposium of Medieval Logic and Semantics, Geneva, 12-16 June 2012. Textes et etudes du Moyen Âge 82. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017.
De Rijk, Lambert Marie, and H.A.G. Braakhuis, eds. Logos and Pragma: Essays on the Philosophy of Language in Honour of Professor Gabriel Nuchelmans. Nijmegen: lngenium, 1987.
Gabbay, Dov, and John Woods, eds. Mediaeval and Renaissance Logic. Handbook of the History of Logic 2. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2008.
Klima, Gyula, and Alexander Hall, eds. The Demonic Temptations of Medieval Nominalism. Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics 9. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011.
Klima, Gyula, ed. Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy. New York: Fordham University Press, 2015.
Knuuttila, Simo, and Jaakko Hintikka, eds. The Logic of Being. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing, 1986.
Kretzmann, Norman, ed. Meaning and Inference in Medieval Philosophy: Studies in Memory of Jan Pinborg. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988.
Maierú, Alfonso, and Luisa Valente, eds. Medieval Theories on Assertive and Non Assertive Language: Acts of the 14th European Symposium on Medieval Logic and Semantics Rome, June 11–15, 2002. Lessico Intellectuale Europeo 92. Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 2004.
Newton, Lloyd, ed. Medieval Commentaries on Aristotle’s Categories. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
Novaes, Catarina Dutilh, and Stephen Read, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Logic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Pelletier, Jenny, and Magali Roques, eds. The Language of Thought in Late Medieval Philosophy: Essays in Honor of Claude Panaccio. Historical-Analytical Studies on Nature, Mind and Action 5. Dordrecht: Springer, 2017.
Sacred Scripture in the Middle Ages
De Lubac, Henri, SJ. Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture. 3 vols. Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.
vol. 1. Translated by Mark Sebanc.
vol. 2. Translated by Ed Macierowski.
vol. 3. Translated by Ed Macierowski.
Levy, Ian Christopher. Introducing Medieval Biblical Interpretation: The Senses of Scripture in Premodern Exegesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018.
Levy, Ian Christopher. Holy Scripture and the Quest for Authority at the End of the Middle Ages. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.
Smalley, Beryl. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989.
Misc. Resources for Specific Medieval / Ancient Authors
How to learn about a medieval author:
1) See if there is a page on the author in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy or the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Look through the bibliography at the end for additional sources.
2) See if a companion or collection of introductory essays has been published by:
Blackwell
3) See if there is a volume on the author in the Great Medieval Thinkers series (Oxford).
Specific Resources for Specific Authors
Below are some helpful resources for studying specific medieval thinkers. This is very much a working document in its very early stages, but may be expanded as I find the time. The names below are arranged alphabetically.
Aristotle (384BC-322BC)
Critical editions of the Latin translations of Aristotle are being produced by KU Leuven as part of the Aristoteles Latinus series. These are searchable on the Aristoteles Latinus Database (ALD). For progress on this work, see here.
A short, incomplete list of Aristotle's works in Greek critical editions:
Aristotle. Categoriae, et Liber de Interpretatione. Edited by Lorenzo Minio-Paluello. Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949.
Aristotle. De Interpretatione (ΠΕΡΙ ΕΡΜΗΝΕΙΑΣ). Edited by Hermann Weidemann. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014.
Aristotle. Topica et Sophistici Elenchi. Edited by W.D. Ross. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958.
Aristotle. Aristotle’s Physics: A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary. Edited by W.D. Ross. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Aristotle. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Edited by W.D. Ross. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
Augustine (354-430)
For Augustine's complete works in searchable Latin from Patrologia Latina. This includes a search engine of his complete works.
Many of Augustine's works are availabe online in English.
New York City Press has a print edition of his complete works in English translation.
The critical editions of his works are being produced by Brepols as part of the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (CCL).
Companions
Stump, Eleonore, and Normann Kretzmann, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Augustine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Biographies
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. 2nd ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000.
Chadwick, Henry. Augustine of Hippo: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. [Contains appendix with bibliography of recommended readings on Augustine.]
Lancel, Serge. St. Augustine. Translated by Antonia Nevill. London: SCM Press, 2002. [This is the best biography of Augustine.]
Boethius (480-524)
Primary Sources
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. Commentarii in Librum Aristotelis ΠΕΡΙ ΕΡΜΗΝΕΙΑΣ. Edited by Carolus Meiser. 2 vols. Leipzig: Teubner, 1877.
_____. De Divisione: Critical Edition, Translation, Prolegomena, and Commentary. Edited and translated by John Magee. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
_____. In Isagogen Porphyrii Commenta. Edited by Samuel Brandt. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 48. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1906.
_____. Opera Omnia. Edited by J. P. Migne. Patrologia Latina 64. Paris: Garnier Fratres, 1891.
_____. Opuscula sacra and De consolatio Philosophiae. Edited by C. Moreschini. Munich-Leipzig: K. G. Saur, 2005.
_____. Theological Tractates. Edited by G.P. Goold. Translated by H. F. Stewart, E. K. Rand, and S. J. Tester. Loeb Classical Library 74. Edinburgh, UK: St. Edmundsbury Press, 1973.
Secondary Sources
Chadwick, Henry. Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology, and Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
McInerny, Ralph. Boethius and Aquinas. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1990.
Obertello, Luca. Severino Boezio. 2 vols. Genoa: Academia Ligura de scienze e lettere, 1974.
Suto, Taki. Boethius on Mind, Grammar and Logic: A Study of Boethius’ Commentaries on Peri Hermeneias. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Wiitala, Michael, ed. Boethius’ ‘Consolation of Philosophy’: A Critical Guide. Cambridge Critical Guides. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Anselm of Canterbury, OSB (?-1109)
Latin Editions
Anselm of Canterbury. S. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia. Edited by Franciscus Salesius Schmitt. 6 vols. Edinburgh: Apud Thomam Nelson et Filios, 1946.
1. Continens opera quae prior et abbas Beccensis composuit: Monologion ; Proslogion ; De grammatico ; De veritate ; De libertate arbitrii ; De casu Diaboli ; Epistolae de incarnatione Verbi prior recensio
2. Continens opera quae archiepiscopus composuit: Epistola de incarnatione Verbi ; Cur Deus homo ; De conceptu virginali et de originali peccato ; Epistola de sacrificio azimi et fermentati ; Epistola Waleramni episcopi ad Anselmum ; Epistola de sacramentis ecclesiae ; De concordia praescientiae et praedestinationis et gratiae Dei cum libero arbitrio
3. Continens Orationes sive meditationes necnon epistolarum librum primum
4. Continens epistolarum libri secundi primam partem
5. Continens epistolarum libri secundi alteram partem
6. Continens indicem Sacrae Scripturae, indicem autorum, indicem generalem personarum et rerum
Anselm of Canterbury. Epistolae Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi. Vol. 1, The Bec Letters. Edited and translated by Samu Niskanen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2019.
English Translations
Complete Philosophical and Theological Treatises of Anselm of Canterbury. Edited by Jasper Hopkins and Herbart Richardson. Translated by Jasper Hopkins. Minneapolis, MN: Arthur J. Banning Press, 2000. [These can also be read online at jasper-hopkins.info.]
The Complete Treatises: With Selected Letters and Prayers and the Meditation on Human Redemption. Edited and translated by Thomas Williams. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2022.
The De Grammatico of St. Anselm: The Theory of Paronymy. Edited by Desmond Henry. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1964. [This edition contains extensive commentary and the full Latin and English text; it is available online at archive.org]
Anselm of Canterbury. Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury. Translated by Walter Fröhlich. 3 vols. Cistercian Studies Series 96–97, 142. Kalamazoo, MI: Liturgical Press, 1990.
Biography
Southern, R. W. St. Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Introduction / Companions
Davies, Brian, and Brian Leftow, eds. Cambridge Companion to Anselm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Sweeney, Eileen. Anselm of Canterbury and the Desire for the Word. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2012.
Visser, Sandra, and Thomas Williams. Anselm. Great Medieval Thinkers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Peter Abelard, OSB (1079-1142)
Primary Sources
Abelard, Peter. Dialectica: First Complete Edition of the Parisian Manuscript. Edited by L.M. De Rijk. 2nd ed. Assen: Van Gorcum, 1970.
_____. Opera Theologica. Edited by Rainer Ilgner. Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaeualis 190. Turnhout: Brepols, 2001.
_____. Scritti Di Logica. Introductiones Dialecticae: Editio Super Porphyrium; Glossae in Categorias; Editio Super Aristotelem De Interpretatione; De Divisionibus. Logica Ingredientibus: Super Topica Glossae. Edited by Mario Dal Pra. 2nd ed. Pubblicazioni Della Facolta Di Lettere e Filosofia Dell’Universita Di Milano 34. Florence: La nuova Italia, 1969.
Best General Introductions
Clanchy, Michael. Abelard: A Medieval Life. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
Luscombe, D. E. The School of Peter Abelard: The Influence of Abelard’s Thought in the Early Scholastic Period. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Marenbon, John. Abelard in Four Dimensions: A Twelfth-Century Philosopher in His Context and Ours. The Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013.
_____. Philosophy of Peter Abelard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Pinzani, Roberto. The Logical Grammar of Abelard. The New Synthese Historical Library 51. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
Averroes (Ibn Rushd) (1126-1198)
Averroes work was primarily as a commentator on Aristotle. Thus, medieval Latin authors referred to him by the honorific, "The Commentator." He wrote "short," "middle," and "long" commentaries. These are three different modes of commenting on a work. A short commentary is basically a short, often carefully crafted summary of the book. A long commentary goes deep into philosophical questions that arise in the book. A middle commentary falls in between.
Aertsen, Jan, and Gerhard Endress, eds. Averroes and the Aristotelian Tradition: Sources, Constitution and Reception of the Philosophy of Ibn Rushd (1126–1198): Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium Averroicum (Cologne, 1996). Islamic Philosophy Theology and Science: Texts and Studies 31. Leiden: Brill, 1999. [This book contains a bibliography of editions of Averroes's works. I won't replicate its contents here. Below, one will find a sampling of Averroes's work, especially as pertinent to Thomistic metaphysics. This will give readers a good sense of where to start.]
The sixteenth-century Junta editions of the Latin translations of his works are available (at least in part) on Archive.org.
For better editions of parts of his long commentary on the Metaphysics, see:
Averroës (Ibn Rushd). In Aristotelis librum II (α) Metaphysicorum commentarius. Edited by Gion Darms. Thomistische Studien 11. Freiburg: Paulusverlag, 1960.
Averroës (Ibn Rushd). Averrois in librum V (Δ) Metaphysicorum Aristotelis commentarius. Edited by Ruggero Ponzalli. Scritti publ. sotto gli auspici della Società Svizzera di Scienze Morali 13. Bern: Francke, 1971.
Averroës (Ibn Rushd). Das neunte Buch (Θ) des Lateinischen großen Metaphysik-kommentars von Averroes. Edited by Bernhard Bürke. Schriften Hrsg. unter dem patronat der Schweizer Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft 10. Bern: Francke, 1969.
Averroës (Ibn Rushd). “Averrois in X (Iota) Metaphysicorum Aristotelis Commentarius: Testo edito a base di manoscrotti con introduzione e studi storico-filosofici.” Edited by Ruggiero Salvatore. PhD diss., University of Fribourg, 1961.
For his long commentary on De anima, see:
Averroës (Ibn Rushd). Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle. Edited by Thérèse-Anne Druart. Translated by Richard Taylor. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
Averroës (Ibn Rushd). Commentarium magnum in Aristotelis De Anima libros. Edited by F. Stuart Crawford. Corpus Commentariorum in Aristotelem, Versio Latina 6/1. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953.
Incoherence of the Incoherence:
Zedler, Beatrice, ed. Averroes’ Destructio destructionum philosophiae Algazelis in the Latin Version of Calo Calonymos. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1961.
Van Den Bergh, Simon, trans. Averroes' Tahafut al-Tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence). 2 vols. Cambridge: University Press, 1987.
Bonaventure, OFM (1221-1274)
Primary Sources
Bonaventure. Opera Omnia. 10 vols. Florence: Ad claras aquas (Quaracchi), 1882.
Best General Introductions
Van Buren, Franziska. Aristotle and the Ontology of St. Bonaventure. The De Wulf-Mansion Centre, Series I LXIII. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2023.
Cullen, Christopher. Bonaventure. Great Medieval Thinkers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Hammond, Jay, J. A. Hellmann, and Jared Goff, eds. A Companion to Bonaventure. A Series of Handbooks and Reference Works on the Intellectual and Religious Life of Europe, 500–1800 48. Leiden: Brill, 2014.
Ratzinger, Joseph. The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1971.
Quinn, John. Historical Constitution of Bonaventure’s Philosophy. Studies and Texts 23. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1973. [begins with massive hundred-page summary of the debate about Bonaventure's Aristotelianism and relation to Aquinas from start of the twentieth century.]
Albert the Great, OP (Albertus Magnus) (1200-1280)
Editions
The critical editions (Editio Coloniensis) of Albert's works are being produced by the Albertus Magnus Institut in Cologne. An up-to-date list of which editions have been completed and which are in-progress is available here.
Albert, the Great. Opera omnia ad fidem codicum manuscriptorum edenda, appara’n critico, notis, prolegomenis, indicibus instruenda curavit institutum Alberti Magni Coloniense, Bernhardo Geyer praeside. Monasterii Westfalorum: In aedibus Aschendorff, 1951–.
For PDFs of the 17th-century Jammy edition and 19th-century Borgnet edition of Albert's Opera omnia, see http://albertusmagnus.uwaterloo.ca/.
Though it is not as functional as the Index Thomisticus, there is a helpful search engine for Albert's works.
Companions and Anthologies
Kovach, Francis, and Robert Shahan, eds. Albert the Great: Commemorative Essays. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
Resnick, Irven, and Kenneth Kitchell. Albertus Magnus and the World of Nature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022.
_____, ed. A Companion to Albert the Great: Theology, Philosophy, and the Sciences. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
_____, and Kenneth Kitchell. Albert the Great: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography (1900–2000). Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2004.
Weisheipl, James, OP, ed. Albertus Magnus and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays 1980. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1980.
Henry of Ghent (1217-1293)
Primary Sources
Henry of Ghent. Henrici de Gandavo opera omnia. Edited by R. Macken. Leuven: Leuven University Press; Leiden: Brill, 1979–.
Giles of Rome, OSA (1243-1316)
Primary Sources
Aegidii Romani Opera Omnia. Vol. III.1, Apologia. Edited by Robert Wielockz. Florence, SISMEL, 1985. Vol. III.2, Reportatio lecturae super libros I-IV Sententiarum, reportatio Monacensis, excerpta Godefridi de Fontibus. Edited by Concetta Luna. Florence: SISMEL, 2003.
B. Aegidii Columnae Romani Quodlibeta. Frankfurt am Main: Minerva, 1966.
Quaestiones de Esse et Essentia. 3rd ed. Cordoba, 1701.
“Super Librum I Sententiarum (Reportatio): Fragments d’une Reportation Du Commentaire de Gilles de Rome Sur Le Premier Livre Des Sentences; Les Extraits Des Mss. Clm. 8005 et Paris, B. N. Lat. 15819.” Edited by Concetta Luna. Revue Des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques 74 (1990): 205–54, 437–56.
“Super Librum III Sententiarum (Reportatio): La Reportatio Della Lettura Di Egidio Romano Sul Libro III Delle Sentenze e Il Problema Dell’autenticità Dell’Ordinatio [Part 1].” Edited by Concetta Luna. Documenti e Studi Sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 1 (1990): 113–225.
“Super Librum III Sententiarum (Reportatio): La Reportatio Della Lettura Di Egidio Romano Sul Libro III Delle Sentenze e Il Problema Dell’autenticità Dell’Ordinatio [Part 2].” Edited by Concetta Luna. Documenti e Studi Sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale 1 (1991): 75–146.
“Super Librum IV Sententiarum (Reportatio): La Lecture de Gilles de Romes Sur Le Quatriéme Livre Des Sentences; Les Extraits Du Clm. 8005.” Edited by Concetta Luna. Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médievale 57 (1990): 183–255.
Theoremata de Esse et Essentia. Edited by H. Hocedez. Louvain, 1930.
Tractatus de Corpore Christi. Rome, 1555.
“Tractatus de Erroribus Philosophorum.” In Siger de Brabant et l’averroïsme Latin Au XIIIme Siècle; Étude Critique et Documents Inédits, by Pierre Mandonnet, 2–11. edited by Pierre Mandonnet. Fribourg: Librairie de l’Université, 1899.
John Duns Scotus, OFM (1265/6-1308)
Latin Primary sources
A critical edition of Scotus's theological works is being produced by the Scotistic Commision:
Doctoris subtilis et Mariani Ioannis Duns Scoti Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Opera omnia / iussu et auctoritate Pacifici M. Perantoni; studio et cura Commissionis Scotisticae ad fidem codicum edita, praeside Carolo Balić [=Vatican Edition]. Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1950–. [Some of this is available on archive.org, but not for download. See a full list of links compiled by Claus Asbjørn Andersen.]
There is a complete critical edition of Scotus's philosophical works:
Opera philosophica. Edited by Girard Etzkorn et al. 5 vols. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1997–2006.
For unedited versions of Scotus's works, see links to the nineteenth-century Vivès edition (26 vols.) on Archive.org posted by Sydney Penner.
Latin-English Editions
Duns Scotus, Metaphysician. Translated by William Frank and Allan Wolter. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1995.
Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality. Selected and translated with introduction by Allan Wolter. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1986.
Early Oxford Lecture on Individuation. Edited and translated by Allan Wolter. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2005.
The Examined Report of the Paris Lecture [Reportatio I-A]. Edited and translated by Allan Wolter and Oleg Bychkov. 2 vols. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2008.
Political and Economic Philosophy. Edited and translated by Allan Wolter. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2000.
Questions on Mary. Edited and translated by Allan Wolter. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2000.
The Report of the Paris Lecture [Reportatio IV-A: Parts 1 & 2]. Edited and translated by Oleg Bychkov and R. Trent Pomplun. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2016.
English Editions
On Being and Cognition. Edited and translated by John Van den Bercken. New York: Fordham University Press, 2016.
Duns Scotus on Time and Existence: The Questions on Aristotle’s “De Interpretatione.” Translated with introduction and commentary by Edward Buckner and Jack Zupko. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014.
God and Creatures: The Quodlibetal Questions. Translated by Felix Alluntis and Allan Wolter. Princeton Legacy Library. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975.
Ordinatio. Translated by Peter Simpson and Christian Wagner. 17 vols. Independently Published, 2023. https://www.christianbwagner.com/ordinatio
Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle. 2 vols. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 1997.
Overviews and Introductions
Cross, Richard. Duns Scotus. Great Medieval Thinkers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Ingham, Mary Beth, and Mechthild Dreyer. The Philosophical Vision of John Duns Scotus: An Introduction. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2004.
Ingham, Mary Beth. Scotus for Dunces: An Introduction to the Subtle Doctor. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2003.
Vos, Antonie. The Philosophy of John Duns Scotus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.
Ward, Thomas. Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus. Brooklyn, NY: Angelico Press, 2022.
Wolter, Allan, OFM. Philosophical Theology of John Duns Scotus. Edited by Marilyn McCord Adams. Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Williams, Thomas. The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Specific Topics
Cross, Richard. Duns Scotus on God. Ashgate Studies in the History of Philosophical Theology. London: Routledge, 2005.
Cross, Richard. Duns Scotus’s Theory of Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Cross, Richard. The Physics of Duns Scotus: The Scientific Context of a Theological Vision. Oxford University Press, 1998.
Cross, Richard. The Metaphysics of the Incarnation: Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
LaZella, Andrew. The Singular Voice of Being: John Duns Scotus and Ultimate Difference. New York: Fordham University Press, 2019.
Osborne, Thomas. Human Action in Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2014.
William Ockham, OFM (1287-1347)
Primary Sources
Ockham, William. Opera philosophica. 7 vols. St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 1974–1988.
_____. Opera theologica. 10 vols. St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 1967–1987.
_____. Opera politica. Edited by H. F. Offler. 4 vols. Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi 14. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963[ vol. 1, rev. 1974]–1997.
Best General Introductions
Adams, Marilyn McCord. William Ockham. 2 rev. ed. 2 vols. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989.
Maurer, Armand. The Philosophy of William of Ockham: In the Light of Its Principles. Studies and Texts. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1999.
Panaccio, Claude. Ockham’s Nominalism: A Philosophical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
_____. Ockham on Concepts. Ashgate Studies in Medieval Philosophy. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004.
Pelletier, Jenny. William Ockham on Metaphysics: The Science of Being and God. Studien Und Texte Zur Geistesgeschichte Des Mittelalters 109. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
Spade, Paul Vincent, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Ockham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Useful Websites for Medieval / Scholastic Texts
Aristotelophile.com (Peter Simpson)